11-6-18, WELLINGTON, FLA – Thanks to a serious surgical mistake, 51 yr old Maureen Pacheco is left without one of her fully functioning kidneys. In April 2016 she checked into Wellington Regional Medical Center to get the bones in her lower back fused in the wake of a car accident, [Palm Beach Post]. This is a fairly common operation on the spine. Difficulties were not expected. However, when Dr. Ramon Vazquez made the incision from the front of her body, he spotted an organ [healthy kidney] — which he believed to be a tumor, declared an emergency and removed it.

A month after the surgery, the center’s pathologist found that the removed "tumor" was a healthy kidney that had fallen into the pelvic cavity (pelvic dystopia of the kidney). Dr Vasquez claims he was never informed that there was an MRI showing the kidney's lower position.

According to her lawsuit, Ms Pacheco will be on disability for the rest of her life - she was awarded $500,000.

Commenting on the grave error, the National Kidney Foundation reported that although most people live a healthy life with just one kidney, long term problems such as high blood pressure and a loss in kidney function may occur.More here

Not first time this has happened: In 2016 two more patients had their kidneys removed in error:

at St. Vincent Hospital [here] in Worcester, Massachusetts USA because of a patient mix-up, an unidentified woman's kidney was removed in error.

Dena Knapp [here] underwent surgery at Avera McKennan Hospital in Sioux Falls, South Dakota USA, to have a mass removed from her adrenal gland, but the doctor mistakenly removed her kidney. After the surgery she developed stage-three kidney disease. The physician is fighting her lawsuit, claiming he did not breach the standard of care. More here